Thank you for working on the holidays

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    Last week, the Piscataquis County commissioners showed some Christmas spirit by allowing most county offices to shut down on Dec. 26, thus allowing employees who choose to take earned time off to have a four-day weekend.
    Sheriff John Goggin, with his usual deadpan humor, reminded them that “We’ll be open as usual — even on Christmas.”

    Corrections officers are just some of the folks who don’t have the option of taking a day off just because it’s a holiday. In some cases, it’s even worse for them because they have to deal with a lot of depressed inmates, all of whom wish they were someplace else.
    Law enforcement officers are also on the road Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I would truly hate that shift. Sometimes you have to notify families that their loved ones were injured or worse because someone was either careless on the road or drank too much. Talk about ruining a holiday.
    Hospitals are also open 24-7, thankfully.
    Many years ago, I had an unexpected asthma attack on a Christmas morning. Normally, you couldn’t get me to a hospital emergency room unless I was comatose. But my wife insisted that I wasn’t going to “snap out of it” with my trusty inhaler.
    So I reluctantly checked into Sebasticook Valley Hospital where they hooked me up to a nebulizer — a fancy name for a breathing machine with some high-powered lung decongestant — and I was back home within two hours.
    If the roads are bad, your highway department can kiss their Christmas dinner goodbye, or ask their spouse to keep it warm. They’ll be out plowing and sanding, just to make sure you can get home for your family gathering.
    Most retail stores shut down early Christmas Eve and stay closed for the holiday. But others don’t.
    While they may not fall into the category of public servants, I have to acknowledge that they’re also performing a necessary service. Not everyone keeps an eye on their gas gauge like I do. So if you’re 50 miles from home and the needle is hovering around “E,” you’re glad to see a gas station open.
    Before my second life as a journalist, I was program director of a small town radio station for about seven years. I usually volunteered to sign on the station at 5 a.m., simply because my kids weren’t even awake until 10.
    We split up our holiday shifts so that no one was stuck working Christmas, New Year’s, Memorial Day and Fourth of July in a single year.
    But imagine the uproar if someone turned on the radio and we weren’t there.
    And although I’m not a big television watcher, I acknowledge that I watch the news and a few oddball shows now and then.
    I’d hate to turn on the TV and see a blank screen, or a sign that said “Sorry! It’s our day off. Have a Merry Christmas.”
    So to all the CO’s, LEO’s, hospital workers, road crews, retail associates, radio and television personnel who have to work on Christmas Day — thank you!
    And for the rest of us, here’s to a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
    Mike Lange is a staff writer with the Piscataquis Observer. His opinions are his own and don’t necessarily reflect those of this newspaper.